SUNRISE VOLLEYBALL: Wildcats play like family, win region title

When walking around the Las Vegas High campus, one constantly hears that it is a “family.”

With three sets of brothers on the squad, the Wildcats’ boys volleyball team played like a family on Friday, cruising to a 25-17, 25-19, 25-21 win over visiting Foothill to claim the Division I Sunrise Region title. Both the Wildcats and Falcons qualify for next week’s state tournament.

Las Vegas, though, chose to go in with plenty of momentum.

“So many times, teams work hard and never achieve something like this,” Las Vegas coach Justin Graham said. “I couldn’t be more happy for this group. It’s a special time for this program, students and administration.”

In front of a loud student section, the Wildcats played with a lot more energy, especially in the late stages of each set.

“We got outplayed, it’s that simple,” Foothill coach Chris Sisson said. “Vegas played a solid match, and they played much better defense than we did.”

In the opening set, the Wildcats used an 8-2 run, paced by kills from Ryan Magante and Brandon Kampshoff, to take an 18-10 lead. The Falcons never got closer than six points the rest of the way.

There were six ties in the second set and it appeared Foothill had shaken its opening-set jitters. But Las Vegas again found that key spurt, aided by two kills from Magante and one each by Royce Reyes and Paul Swenson, to grab a 2-0 lead.

Las Vegas consistently got kills from its front line, and scored nine of the final 11 points to close out the third set.

“When things got tough during the year, this group stayed together like a family,” Graham said. “This team banded together and they deserve this title.”

Luis Wong had 29 assists for the Wildcats (14-10), and Magante had 12 kills and five digs. Antonio Wong added 15 digs, and Ronell Sueno finished with nine kills and two blocks.

Branson Diaz had eight kills and three blocks to lead Foothill (23-14). Shilo Chow added 26 assists and five digs, and Colin Curi had five kills and three digs for the Falcons.